CLEVELAND, Ohio — A judge has allowed the Cleveland Browns to file an updated lawsuit over the team’s planned move from downtown Cleveland to a new stadium in Brook Park.
U.S. District Judge David Ruiz’s late Friday ruling led the team to file its amended complaint on Monday over objections from the city of Cleveland and Ohio attorney general’s office.
The Browns’ updated lawsuit focuses on the team’s arguments that an Ohio law that puts restrictions on tax-supported professional sports teams is unconstitutional and that the team wouldn’t run afoul of the law if the team leaves its downtown stadium for a new, $2.4 billion covered stadium at the end of its lease in 2029. It also added Cleveland Law Director Mark Griffin as a defendant.
Ruiz’s ruling said the case was still in its early stages and, despite the city and attorney general filing motions to toss out the lawsuit, won’t hinder the proceedings.
“It is true that Cleveland and Ohio have already expended resources in filing motions to dismiss the amended complaint,” Ruiz wrote. “But the court cannot find that having to respond to an amended complaint or refile motions to dismiss would unduly prejudice either the defendant or the State of Ohio.”
It’s the second time the Browns have changed its lawsuit since the original was filed in October.
City attorneys argued that allowing the new lawsuit would send the case back to square one and that the Browns only asked to change its arguments because it realized the city had a stronger position and wanted to restart the process.
The attorney general’s office argued that Ruiz should reject the new lawsuit because, even with the changes, it wouldn’t succeed.
Despite some changes, the core of the lawsuit remains the same: The Browns are seeking Ruiz’s order to strike down the so-called Modell Law as unconstitutional.
The 1996 law, enacted after the Browns left Cleveland for Baltimore, requires a team to offer the franchise up for sale before moving from an area that supported the team with taxpayer money, among other provisions.
City officials and the attorney general’s office have argued that the case should be tossed out or at least paused until another lawsuit plays out in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
That lawsuit, filed by the city, seeks a judge’s order to enforce the provisions of the Modell Law. That case is also in its early stages, and the Browns have asked Common Pleas Judge Lauren Moore to dismiss that lawsuit or allow the federal case to move forward first.
Moore has not made a ruling on that request.